Legend of Praxxus

Legend of Praxxus I - The Living Legend

Chapter 1

In the 21st Century:
Chicago Tribune: The recent wave of child kidnappings across Chicago has stumped investigators from every precent. On May 3rd, Marion Shoemaker was busy in her kitchen preparing lunch for her 5 year old, who was sitting at the kitchen table one moment and seemed to vanish into thin air.

"Jarrod was sitting in his seat playing with his cars on the kitchen table, " Marion told authorities, "I turned to cut the crusts off the sandwich I made for him and it suddenly got eerie quiet. I turned back and he was gone."
Police Chief Aaron Cox stated that there was no sign of forced entry into Shoemaker's residence. Across the street was a bus-stop full of pedestrians waiting for their bus, as they always had done at noon on Tremont Street, the same time Jarrod Shoemaker vanished. All pedestrians were interviewed and none of them saw any suspicious charactors around the Shoemaker residence.
This incidence is one of a dozen that plagued the Chicago area during the week of May 3rd, 2013.

Chattanooga Times News Free Press 09/14/2014: Bus number 21 was headed north on Taft Highway (Hwy 127) on Signal Mountain on its normal bus route to pick up children for Thrasher Elementry.

"The bus was speeding. Going 45 mph in a 30 mph zone, "Spoke Lt. Frank Lorenzo, "I pulled the bus over near Laurel Avenue. The Bus driver seemed to be healthy. Did not appear to be on any drugs or alcohol. All the children on the bus were in good spirits and didn't seemed frightened at all. The driver followed me to my patrol car and we got into a conversation that took a good ten minutes when the children on the bus started screaming. Four of the children ran off the bus frantically and headed off down Laurel Avenue. The bus driver headed off to catch up to those children as I went to check on the ones on the bus. There were only two children on the bus. Both were too afriad to speak."

"I had 19 children on that bus," spoke driver Ed Collins, almost too emotional to speak, " After that event, I was down to 6!!!"

The remaining children were so frightened of whatever took place on that bus that they stopped talking. The trauma was so severe that all six children are being sent to the Meadows, a special clinic in the state of Arizona, for treatment. Until these children can give an account as to what unfolded on Bus number 21 that morning, the dissappearance of 13 children will remain a mystery.

These type of kidnappings continued to grow and spread around the globe clear through the onset of World War III in 2025. Most of the data of these events was lost due to the impact of high emf on computer databases of the era. Nuclear fallout rendered a third of the earth uninhabitable. During the re-construction period following, the kidnappings ceased.

In 2063, man started to look to the stars once again. The International Spacestation was rebuilt and expanded to house a special space-dock for starship construction. Scientist Carl Valiant led a team of engineers to refit long retired space-shuttle Endeavor with an experimental magnetic propulsion system.

"It's based off Einstein's theory of relativity, coupled with Professor Kazon's theory of wormholes using Magnetohydrodynamics, "Carl Valiant explained to the media from the International Space-station, "The Endeavor was totally refit to house a thermoelectronic reactor, powered by Deuterium plazma. The plazma is injected into a series of copper coils which produces a strong magnetic field around the Endeavor propelling her forward. By tilting the magnetic field out of phase based upon a third order frequency equation, which my team and I call the "Hyper-space Equation" we can send the Endeavor to Neptune in one second."
"Carl Valiant started as a Electrical Engineer for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the NRC, in 2033, " Robert Hightower, CEO of NASA was interviewed second, "Carl led a team of scientist on a expidition in the eastern United States to remove loose radioactive contamination using another one of Dr. Kazon's Magnetohydrodynamic theories. Their team successfully restored half of North America to a reasonably good habitable state. I'm pleased to announce a permanent contract with Dr. Kazon and Carl Valiant for their work with the space-shuttle Endeavor, scheduled to launch Thursday afternoon. I believe these guys are going to restore mankind's hope and push us into the 22nd century with a renewed spirit of space exploration."
"I lost my family in that war," Dr. Kazon spoke as the cameras spun around to show the 65 year old floating weightless next to Carl Valiant, "For three years I walked the streets of a devestated Atlanta. I saw death and misery. Pain in peoples' eyes....As the days passed, I grew angrier and angrier. To my suprise, I was the only resident of Atlanta that is alive today. All the others died of radiation poisoning. I made a vow that I would spend every last day of my life on this planet restoring humanity. I spent day and night in a under-ground lab in Utah developing my theories and testing them. Starting with the device I called the Terminator, which Carl and I used to decontaminate the United States atom by atom. I considered this revenge against the death caused by the atomic bomb. Now, the Hyper-space Equation, should the Endeavor's mission be successful, will complete my vow to restore humanity and take us out to the final frontier. I see colonies in orbit of Proxima Centuari, a sunrise on a earthlike planet orbiting a sunlike star somewhere out there!" Dr. Kazon exclaimed pointing out one of the small windows in the International Space-station.

The refitted space-shuttle Endeavor launched that Thursday morning with Astronauts Bill Saunders and Hezekiah Carmicheal. As soon as she was clear of space-dock, the magnetic propulsion system was activated and the Endeavor vanished into thin air. The International Space-station was rocked by a strange wave of plazma. The Endeavor never arrived in Neptune orbit.

And so died the renewed hope for space-exploration until Carl Valiant designed a new line of starships he named the Kazon Class Deep Space Exploration and Research Vessels in 2075. The first ship to be built at the International Space-station was the USS Discovery. The hull was 100 meters long and inhoused six decks. The Discovery was equiped with a crew of 81, led by Captain Nathanial L. Pugh and Carl Valiant. All 81 members of the USS Discovery's crew took part in her construction and trained to become familiar with every inch of her. What makes the USS Discovery special is that she is equiped with a expiramental artificial gravity system invented by one of Carl Valiant's students.

"Our maiden voyage will be around the moon and back, "Carl Valiant spoke, "Though this mission will be dissappointing by those who wanted the Discovery to attempt a Neptune orbit, I feel the shorter mission is necessary to work out bugs. As I reported in 2065 after we completed the Root Cause evaluation of the Endeavor's failure, I believe there was a glitch in the electronic controls in her starboard nacelle, which caused the Endeavor to fly apart. I believe I resolved the problem with the Discovery's design. To be safe, we will conduct a partial power test around the moon on Friday."

Frinday morning, Captain Pugh and Carl Valiant were busy preparing for the pre-flight check. Captain Pugh led a pre-job brief with the Discovery's crew as Carl Valiant patrolled the Main Control Room.

"Did one of you guys leave the Comm-Station on yesterday?" Carl interrupted the meeting.

Everybody looked at each other. Nobody knew, they had all been on the space-station resting up.

"Does it really matter?" Capt. Pugh asked, rather disturbed.

"Sort of," Carl stated, "I remembered shutting everything down Wednesday night. I filled out the checklist properly. The reason it matters is that this may signify a problem in the mother computer."

Captain Pugh turned to his crew and asked, "None of you were onboard yesterday?" They all replied , "No, sir" And then Captain Pugh probed deeper, "Ensign Southerland, you manned the comm-station Wednesday. Did you notice anything unusual?"
"Nothing unusual. I was bothered by a bunch of kids playing on their radios," Southerland replied, "One claimed to be Hezekiah Carmicheal!"
"So, that was why all the profannity was used, " Capt. Pugh inquired.
"I had to tell the kid off. Hezekiah was a great man, "Ensign Southerland continued, as Carl Valiant studied the comm-station.

Carl noticed that the comm-station was recieving a signal. He sat down to open the channel quietly as Captain Pugh and Ensign Southerland continued to talk. Unfortunately, the volume was left maxed out and the Main Control room was blasted by a voice, "HELLO! CAN ANYBODY READ?"

"What the bloody Hell!" Capt. Pugh fired back at Carl Valiant, "We're never going to launch if you keep interrupting!"
"This is a real signal, Captain, " Carl spoke as he picked up the mic to respond.
"It's those kids again!" Ensign Southerland recognized the voice.
"If that's true, then those kids must be from outer-space, " Carl replied, "This signal is not from Earth."
Captain Pugh walked over to Carl's right side. The others crowded as close as they could around him.
Carl answered the call, "This is Carl Valiant of the USS Discovery. We read you loud and clear. Come back."

A few minutes passed by and a reply came, "Carl, I'm so glad you're the one I'm talking to. It's me, Hezekiah!!! We arrived in Neptune orbit." Carl want to chew the person out for what he thought was a cruel joke; however, he recognized the voice as being that of Hezekiah Carmichael.
"How? You guys vanished over ten years ago!" Carl replied, with a cold shiver running down his spine.
"Ten years?" came back a question a few minutes later, "Sir, we launched this morning! Remember? Dr. Kazon's invention works! It's awesome! Just like in Star Trek, man!"

Captain Pugh took the mic from Carl and said to him ,"This could be a sick kid playing a joke. Don't get too emotionally involved." The Captain knew that it was not possible for Hezekiah Carmichael to be alive. Nathan L. Pugh was part of the team that found pieces of the Endeavor on the dark side of the moon.
"That is Hezekiah's voice. As I stated earlier, this signal is not coming from Earth below."
"And, if you remember, I found and brought back parts of the Endeavor... Carl, you phsycially touched each piece in your Root Cause Investigation!"
"That is Hezekiah!"
"Carl, you should know better! This is not a Star Trek episode! This is real life!!! You know it isn't possible... Some dumb hick from Florida has probably found an old satellite out there and is bouncing a signal off of it to make it appear to be from outer space."
Carl found the Captain's reasoning to be sound, he shut the comm-station down. He was immediatly flooded with the feeling of guilt for doing so. Captain Pugh gathered the crew back together to finish their briefing. Carl only half-listened. Half his brain was wondering if he really was talking to his old friend Hezekiah.

Chapter 2

Upon launch time, Captain Pugh and his crew ran through the pre-flight checklist. Carl Valiant was in the stern of the USS Discovery keeping his eyes on the Reactor Coolant System as his team started to power-up the Thermoelectronic Nuclear reactor. Carl had to force himself to not think about the strange conversation he had with the one claiming to be astronaut Hezekiah Carmichael and focus on the Engineering pre-flight checklists.

"Plasma injectors charging," a crewman spoke to Carl.

"Maintain standby mode and ensure plasma temperature remains below 578 degrees F, "Carl spoke as he watched the Control Rod Drive Mechanisms on the Main Engineering Console.

The ship-wide comm system chirped and Captain Pugh's voice followed, "Now hear this! Starship Discovery is on schedule for 0730 launch. Helmsman Davis has completed his calculations for lunar fly-by. We've been cleared to depart by the International Space-station. We'll leave space-dock on standard thrusters in ten minutes."

Carl turned to his Engineering team and said, "As soon as we're ten thousand kilometers from the space-station, Captain Pugh will order the disengagement of the standard thrusters. At that point we'll be engaging the Magnetohydrodynamic Propulsion System. This is where we need to be on our toes. Any sign of misalignment of any system, we need to be prepared to kill the system if our software fails to do so."

And that ten minutes felt like an eternity to Carl. This voyage was going to be the first usage of Dr. Kazon's propulsion system since the ill-fated Endeavor flight. Carl was convinced he had solved the issues the Endeavor had. However, the wait to put his system on a real test caused him to sweat.

The USS Discovery was released from the International Space-station for a historic flight. Camera's filled the windows of the International Space-station to record the 100 meter long ship, the first of its kind, to move away from Earth orbit. The USS Discovery resembled an over-sized SR-71. Though there is no air in space, the Discovery was designed to land and take off from the earth's surface, as well as the surface of any other planet in the solar system.

Then came time for the Magnetohydrodynamic Propulsion System test. The helm was turned over to Engineering Control.

"Enagage plasma injectors, Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta, "Carl ordered as he keyed in the command to bring the reactor to full power, "Place Echo, Foxtrot, Golf and Hotel on Stand-by!"

"Aye, sir!" came a response.

Another crewman called out, "Reactor Coolant is now 700 degrees F."

"Plasma injectors Echo, Foxtrot, Golf and Hotel are on stand-by to inject plasma to port and starboard nacelles," another voice was heard, "Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta are sucessfully circulating Deuturium plasma through the reactor core."

"Reactor Coolant Temperature is now stable, Dr. Valiant."

"Lets get this show on the road!" Carl announce as he took the helm control, "Engaged all remaining injectors."

Carl contacted the Main Control Room ," Captain, I'm taking us to 1%."

"Understand, sir, you're taking the Discovery to 1% power."

Carl Valiant moved the control knob forward. Immediately, the USS Discovery took off. Onboard, the flight was smooth. No shaking or vibrating, as the crew had feared. Carl then took the reactor to 2% and then 3%. Still a smooth ride. The USS Discovery was already moving faster than any of the Apollo vessels.

Captain Pugh's voice was heard over the ship-wide comm, "Carl, I can hardly tell this ship is moving! Lets push her a little!"

Carl lurched the Discovery to 25% power. Then he turned on another monitor and engaged one of the forward facing external cameras to see what it looked like outside. There were no long slender streaks of stars like was shown in the sci-fi movies. However, ahead of the Discovery was a blurry spot, where the stars started to glisten and sparkle. The moon was larger than he had ever seen before. According to another monitor, the USS Discovery was traveling at 0.05% light-speed.

Carl pushed the star-drive to 50%. Ahead, the blurry spot turned into a black spot that appeared to move ahead of the ship. The stars were starting to move. Could this be the wormhole Dr. Kazon spoke about? If so, why was it moving ahead of the Discovery? The Endeavor launched right into it.

Captain Pugh was heard again, "Once again, Carl, I'm not very impressed. However, the fact that we've traveled in seven minutes what the Apollo craft did in three days is great. But, as I'm famous for saying, great is not awesome."

Carl snarled at that statement; but, bit his lip from saying any profannity. He started to push the ship towards 75% power. The black spot grew larger. Odd streams of phantom blue light started spewing out of the hole and buffed the Discovery's hull. Still, the ship did not shutter or vibrate. Then to 80% power. Now the USS Discovery was at 15% light-speed. At 85% power, the black spot opened up to long slender blue streaks of light. However, the USS Discovery still did not enter the wormhole. It moved ahead like before. Now, they were gliding around behind the moon.

"What are we seeing, Carl?" Capt. Pugh's voice startled him.

"Well," Carl replied, "I believe we're looking inside the wormhole we should be entering."

"What's your explanation behind why we haven't entered it?"

"Unlike with the Endeavor flight, Captain, we're controlling our speed, "Carl explained, "Rather than blasting away at 100% power, we're inching up slowly. Our forward velocity is 20%-light-speed. However, we've already traveled further than a beam of light would have in an equal amount of time."

"Now, that doesn't make any sense at all! Are you sure the sensors are reading our velocity correctly?"

"Six sensors are fixed to one calculation. All of them are within 3% of each other. The chances of all six being wrong is very slim, Captain," Carl pointed out.

"If the Discovery is not moving faster than light, then how can she cover more distance than light in the same amount of time?"

"It's my belief, Captain, that we're riding the edge of the wormhole, like a surfer on a ocean wave. In our case, space and time is being folded over rather than ocean water."

"Now, that's over my head," Capt. Pugh replied, "I don't remember reading that in any of your lecture notes, Dr. Valiant."

"That's because I haven't written this down yet!"

Suddenly, the USS Discovery started to buff and lurch. Carl lost his balance and had to grab ahold of a pole to keep himself from hitting the deck.

"Steve, what's the temperature of Reactor Coolant?" Carl said as he firmly held onto the pole.

"Still at 700!" came a frantic reply.

"The CRDMs are sitting still as if nothing is wrong," came another engineer's voice.

Carl thought about his surfer analogy. If space and time was being folded over like an ocean wave, then just like a surfer on a large wave, there comes a point when the surfer either rides through a tunnel of water or gets kocked off his board. This means that time and space was folding back upon the USS Discovery. Carl either had to push the SCRAM button to cause the CRDMs to move into the reactor and shut the propulsion system down or he had to shove her to 100% to gain more speed and launch them away. Either move has the danger of ripping the Discovery to pieces.

Carl pushed the reactor to 100%. The USS Discovery settled down. Carl looked on the monior that viewed out ahead of the ship and saw the International Space-station coming up fast. They had gone around the moon and returned in 17 minutes. Carl killed the propulsion system and returned power to standard thrusters.

"Captain! We're on standard thruster control!" carl contacted the Main Control Room.

"It's about time!" capt. Pugh replied nervously.

The helmsman in the Main Control Room successfully veered the ship away from the International Space-station. The Discovery missed a set of solar panels by 5 meters.

The maiden voyage of the USS Discovery around the moon was heralded as a big success. Captain Pugh and his crew soaked in the fame received for the record setting voyage. Carl Valiant, on-the-other-hand was haunted by thoughts about the message they heard prior to the trip. Even though Carl was convinced that the voice he had heard was not Hezekiah Carmichael, he still had nightmares. These nightmares lasted for weeks on end. Despite these nightmares, Carl pushed himself to get up each morning and return to work at the NRC headquarters to rework the Root Cause investigation for the Endeavor based upon the data taken from the Discovery's mission.

Captain Pugh was eager to take the Discovery out for a trip around Pluto, which would be mankinds furthest space-mission. All of this sprouted out of frustration for not being selected by NASA to head the first mission to Mars to set up a colony there. It was the government's decision to allow private investors to fund the construction of a Martain colony, just like they did with the first colony on the moon. It was up to NASA to build a ship to get them there. In the case of this mission to Mars, it was going to be the Discovery's sister ship the USS Challenger, which is presently under construction.

Chapter 3

It was the morning of July 10th 2076, when another wave of kidnappings started. Carl Valiant was driving through downtown Houston listening to the radio in his Subaru. He had hoped to listen to a few good songs as he headed off to work; however, it was nothing but special reports about children across the word dissappearing in masses. Carl turned the radio off.

When he entered his office building, his coworkers were glued to flat-screens watching the NEWs. Others were trying to console Secretary Julia Anderson, who was all in tears.

"Did you hear?" Aaron Baim, his office mate asked, "Julia's daughters were taken!!!"

"Oh no!" Carl gasped, heart sinking. He hurried over to Julia. Julia was one of Carl's favorite corworkers. She was by far the best Secretary this NRC office ever had....

To Be Continued

Due to a short amount of time. I can only write a little bit of this story at a time. I've got a 4 year old that demands a lot of attention. For a little back-ground behind this story. It's based off a dream I've had 13 times. Of the 13 times, I've had three different versions. Curiously, they all are inter-twined with each other. Plus, I'm a different charactor in each dream. This story is version 3. I've written version 1 already and am in the process of writing version 2. This version takes place in the immediate future. Version 2 takes place in the 26th Century and version 1 takes place in the 30th century.

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